Patterson's attack is vicious and uncalled for. It is an totally inappropriate use of his office and it blows the lid off of the idea that the Johnson County Party will be united against anyone in 2006.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Kansas Traditional Republican Majority

Our agenda is comprehensive. We are addressing a broad spectrum of issues and our doors are open to people of differing views, cultures, backgrounds, and approaches. We are reaching out to disenfranchised Republicans - people who are distressed by the politics of hate and intolerance that too often dominate the Party - and to others attracted by a thoughtful, centrist approach to Republican politics. Such an approach allows us to explore multiple perspectives without fear in order to reach reasonable, fair-minded, fiscally sound, and responsible solutions. It demonstrates inclusion, respect, reason and, yes, compassion.

While the group is clearly a moderate group, it will be interesting to see if it acts as a group that deepens the current divide in the Kansas Republican Party, or if it actively works to find common ground.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Delay Cleared of Conspiracy Charges

Today Tom Delay was cleared of conspiracy charges. The charges were brought earlier in the fall by a Democrat prosecutor in Texas.

While Delay still faces money laundering charges, Delay's defense team has moved to have those charges dismissed as well.

The Democrats have based an important part of their public message on the idea that the Republican Party is corrupt, the dismissal of charges against Delay is a serious blow to the credibility of many Democrat officials and Democrat writers.

This follows a pattern where Democrats have made baseless charges against prominent Republicans only to see charges eventually dropped. In the past couple of months Democrats have alleged charges against Delay, Vice President Cheney, Senate Majority Leader Frist, Karl Rove, and Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, only to see those charges dismissed or proven baseless.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Lower Education Standards Equal Less Learning

Wichita Liberty has a good post about the problems that arise when local education leaders lower standards to inflate local test scores and their own performance.

In short, education officials have found a way to make our poorly performing Kansas schools look good its simple, lower the bar and more students can pass the test, unfortunately that doesn't help students who will still have to compete against peers in Asia who are actually learning the skills they need to compete in the 21st century economy.